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Why Apple Inc. Won't Ever Release an "iPhone Pro"

There has been plenty of speculation about what Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) plans to name its upcoming premium iPhone with OLED display. In the media, it is commonly referred to as the iPhone 8 or the iPhone X, but I don't think that it's particularly likely that Apple will go with either of those names.

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In a yet-to-be-published column as of this writing, I argue that Apple should go with the rumored name "iPhone Edition." In this column, I'd like to explain specifically why I don't think Apple will opt to call its premium iPhone by the commonly rumored name, "iPhone Pro."

Pro isn't appropriate for smartphones

The speculation that Apple will call its premium iPhone "iPhone Pro" surely comes from the fact that Apple has historically called the higher-end versions of its Mac and iPad products "Pro."

There's the iPad Pro that launched a couple years ago, there's the MacBook Pro that was introduced many years ago, and by year's end, the company is expected to introduce a high-performance iMac, called the iMac Pro.

Why, then, doesn't a premium iPhone under the name "Mac Pro" make sense?

It's simple. All the products that Apple has historically sold under the "Pro" moniker have been either productivity-focused devices, like the MacBook Pro and Mac Pro, or devices that maybe aren't used much for productivity today but that Apple really wants to position as productivity devices, like the iPad Pro.

This year's premium iPhone isn't going to be targeted at so-called "Pro" users, and I doubt that Apple is going to market the full-face OLED display, 3D sensing technology, or augmented reality features that are likely to distinguish this model from the standard iPhone models with liquid crystal displays as "Pro" features.

These are going to be features that everybody will be able to appreciate, and so the name "Pro" is simply inappropriate.

Edition, Luxe, or something else makes much more sense

What the premium iPhone will be is -- wait for it -- a premium iPhone. It'll have more functionality, it'll look better, and it'll probably be easier (and, frankly, more fun) to use.

I like the name "Edition" because it's a brand that Apple has already established for the premium variants of its Apple Watch, and the name itself simply smacks of luxury.

A less subtle name that I also like is the name "iPhone Luxe." This name could work because it, too, sounds like a "luxury" brand (after all, the very dictionary definition of the word is "luxurious; deluxe").

The name is fitting, too. The OLED iPhone should look quite beautiful -- dare I say, luxurious -- and it is a much more capable, higher-end iPhone, certainly deserving of the "deluxe" descriptor.

Further, since the premium iPhone is said to include a "bright OLED screen," per Fast Company, the word "Luxe" could be a play on the word "lux," which is a measurement of brightness.

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